STEM City to offer amazing opportunities for youth

  • Published
  • By Kendahl Johnson
  • 75th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

For youth visiting the 2022 Hill AFB Warriors Over the Wasatch Air and Space Show, there is more to do than watch aerial performers and visit static aircraft displays, as STEM City makes its return.

STEM City, a popular attraction at Hill’s 2018 show, offers an entire hangar filled with interactive exhibits, including giant video games, drones, robots, virtual reality, welding simulators, rocket launching and much more.

"The area was an exciting display of hands-on booths to encourage students and educate parents on the many opportunities available in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math", said Alison Sturgeon, Hill AFB STEM coordinator. "We were thrilled with this year’s lineup of exhibits.  It’s going to be even bigger and better than it was in 2018.”

New to the lineup this year is “Roving With Perseverance,” which features models of NASA’s Marss Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter. Perseverance’s six-wheeled lookalike is as big as a car, while Ingenuity’s double highlights just how small the history-making rotorcraft is.

The exhibit will include digital displays with the latest video, images, and sounds from the Martian surface to provide an authentic sample of what the rover is encountering as it explores the Red Planet. In addition, NASA Perseverance and Ingenuity scientists and engineers will give in-person and virtual talks and answer questions.

Another new addition to this year’s STEM City will be the Hill Aerospace Museum’s “A-10 Virtual Reality Flight Experience,” which will give participants a chance to visualize what it might be like to fly in the famous “Warthog” aircraft over the mountains and valleys of Utah’s west desert.

Other STEM City participants will include AIAA, INCOSE & IEEE, Army STEM, BAE, Clark Planetarium, Davis Technical College, Dell EMC, Discovery Gateway, Douglas Space & Science Foundation, HAFB Software Organizational Development Office, HAFB WiSE (Women in Science & Engineering), Haight Bey & Associates, Kleinfelder, NOAA, Northrop Grumman, O.C. Tanner, FIRST Robotics, RISE ABOVE Theater, Space Dynamics Labs, Southern Utah University, Star Smart University, STARBASE, Utah STEM Action Center, Tesla, Tracy Aviary, University of Utah, VEX Robotics, and USU AeroAcademy, AeroLab & Aviation Technology.

"We were so excited to showcase so many different technologies and grateful to the many organizations who will help make this year’s STEM City an overwhelming success,” Sturgeon said.

Gates open at 8 a.m. both days of the air show and admission is free.  For more information about the show, including the line up of scheduled performers and a list of permitted and prohibited items, visit www.hill.af.mil.

The best way for attendees to avoid heavy traffic delays, is to ride the UTA Frontrunner to the Clearfield Station, where there will be free shuttle buses taking attendees to the front entrance of the show. There will also be limited parking available at the Clearfield Station for those wishing to take advantage of the shuttle buses.